Cox's Sacrifices Pay Off For Braves

THE SPORTS COLUMN

October 23, 1996|By Larry Guest of The Sentinel Staff

ATLANTA — Aunt Pitty Pat, in Gone With The Wind: ''The Yankees in Atlanta! How did that ever happen?''

Yes, y'all, the Yankees were back again, this time with but a small campfire, just large enough to torch Atlanta notions of a World Series sweep. New York finally showed up at this '96 Rounders Showdown, taking Game 3 by a 5-2 count and cutting the Braves' lead to 2 games to 1.

In contrast to the legendary Bronx Bombers, Tuesday night's winners were the Bronx Bunters. There was one blast, a two-run shot by Bernie Williams, but otherwise Gen. Steinbrenner's invading forces did it with dinks and defense.

New York may be the city that never sleeps, but in the first two games, the Yankees' bats were cutting major ZZZZZZZs. Manager Joe Torre inserted full-figured Cecil Fielder at first in hopes of kick-starting the Yankees' offense. Fielder gave him defense, instead. Like a twinkle-toed bull moose, the former Detroit Tigers Winnebago snared Atlanta hot shots - turning one into a rally-killing double play - chased down foul pops and in general became an industrial-sized Hoover.

You'd figure it's tough to get a pizza past Cecil but not a ground ball. But then his name is Fielder, after all.

Still, the Braves enjoy the inside track on repeating as champs in this front-office matchup of a meddler (George Steinbrenner) and a reformed meddler (Ted Turner). There was a time when Turner was right in there fouling up the soup with the best of them. Who can forget that low point of baseball dignity - unmatched by even today's front-office bozos - when Turner, the ad man and budding TV kingpin, appointed himself manager of his woeful Braves and showed up in the dugout wearing a baseball uniform. He couldn't have looked more foolish if he had donned a propeller beanie and a red rubber nose.

Perhaps Turner's gradual disappearance from the Braves' clubhouse - which coincided by no accident with the Braves' rise to pennant regularity - would have occurred anyway as he turned his attention to Jane Fonda and the pursuit of every other channel on the cable dial. But Ted's evolution may have been accelerated by a proposition more than a decade ago from a job candidate.

The story: Ted had offered the man a handsome salary to come be his general manager. The man said he would consider the job at a lesser salary if Turner would back off and trust his baseball people. Modern sports figure insists on smaller salary. Is this man bites dog, or what?

The man was Bobby Cox, the popular field manager, who confirmed those 1985 discussions contained those elements, in addition to other factors. Cox underscored there was nothing in the way of an ultimatum tethered to Ted's notorious hands-on history. But, yes, he took a salary less than offered.

''I took $50,000 a year less for five years,'' said Cox. ''For one thing, he was simply offering too much money for the job.'' But it wasn't like Cox was going to turn it down even if Turner hadn't agreed to step back a bit.

''I think I probably would have come back here anyway,'' said Cox. ''I've always gotten along with Ted. And we still all answer to Ted around here. But he has taken the stance, 'OK, you guys run with it.' If you're under a lot of pressure from your owner, you tend to make some bad decisions.''

You listening, George?

A player and manager for the Braves during earlier stints in his career, Cox returned to Atlanta as GM after that ''de-Ted Treaty'' and began shoring up a farm system that has served Cox well since returning to the dugout in 1990 as field manager. With GM John Schuerholz stoking the roster, Bobby juggling the lineups and Ted dropping by occasionally between the Goodwill Games and the creation of another Garden Channel, or some such, the Braves won more games (550) the past six years than any team in baseball.

At last, the plaudits are stacking up on Bobby's desk, though few of the admirers realize the biggest thing he may have done for the franchise was gently persuading Turner to stay out of the kitchen. In typical modesty, Cox laterals any accolades to the superstars on his lineup card.

Another former Braves hero begged to differ. Yankees manager Joe Torre, who also played and managed for the Braves, said Cox is ''a quality manager. It's good to have good players, but you still have to manage. You have to know what the hell you are doing.''

Obviously, he does now and did when he shorted himself 50 grand a year.